Bleeding Sorrow
by Girlmechanic17
Summary: People's sorrows are bleeding into other people's dreams.
1. Chapter 1

I awoke to some one sobbing, but I couldn't locate the source of the noise. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. Two thirty am. I rolled over, trying to block out the noise, but it only made the sound more prominent. I then realized, I was the one sobbing. I couldn't remember why, but I couldn't stop either. It felt like some one had torn my heart out and thrown it against a wall. I felt so broken, but I didn't know why. I sobbed myself to sleep... And then woke up. The sobbing was gone. I was laying flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling. I didn't feel broken any more. I didn't have a clock on my wall. It wasn't two thirty am. Light was shining in my window, and the whole house was quiet. I sat up, yawned, and stretched. I could hear an alarm blaring from the next room and sighed. My sister never got up to her alarm clock. I really don't know why she even bothered to set it.

"Honestly..." I stepped out of my warm bed onto the cold floor, shivering a bit at the sudden change in temperature. "Hey Sarah! Get up already! You're going to be late! Again." There was so response. I knocked a little harder and waited for a short period before walking into the darkened room. "If you don't get up soon, I'm going to get a glass of water and dump it over your head." Said victim groaned and rolled over. I rolled my eyes and walked into the kitchen, grabbed a cup, filled it with water, and walked back to my sister's room. She was up by the time I got back.

"I'm up, I'm up! Don't pour water on me!" She raised her arms defensively over her head. I shrugged and set the glass down on her night stand.

"So, what time did you finally go to bed last night?" Sarah yawned and shrugged. I sighed and went back to my room.

"Sarah, Hanna! Breakfast!" I threw on a t-shirt and jeans and walked to the kitchen.

"Hey dad."

"Good morning. Is Sarah up?" I nodded. "Did she finally wake up to her alarm?" I grinned and shook my head. Dad just laughed. A half an hour later, Sarah ran to the kitchen, took a sip of orange juice, and grabbed a piece of toast as she ran out the door.

"Bye!" Dad and I laughed. This had become a normal occurrence ever since Sarah had gotten a full time job. She'd been trying to juggle that and college for a while and it never works out as she would like. I looked up at the clock as I finished my juice.

"Gotta go. Bye dad." I waved, grabbed my books and keys, and headed out the door. I drove to the designated meeting area for the project group. Ashley waved as I walked over. "So, any one got any new ideas?" My question was met with a unanimous 'no.' I sighed. "Me either..."

"Maybe we need a break."

"We just started."

"Yeah, I know. But we've been working on this all week. Our brains need a break."

"Are you sure it's not just your brain that needs a break?" Ashley stuck her tongue out at Jackson. He laughed. "Oh yeah, that's really mature Ashley." Ashley's only response was a mumbled 'shut up.' I grinned, used to their arguments, and looked over at Kai and Kaylee. They were lost in their own little world. I sighed and shook my head. Ever since those two got together, it had been impossible to get them to pay attention to any thing else.

"Hey, you two, we've got to get this done. Could you focus for five minutes?" They ignored me. This was normal though. They always ignored the outside world when they were together. I sighed once again and looked over at Ashley and Jackson. They were still fighting. I looked down at the gathered materials, still waiting to be organized into a presentation. I looked over them again, picked up a couple papers, and read over the information. I didn't get anything done. Between Kai and Kaylee's constant flirting, and Ashley and Jackson's raised voices as they fought, I couldn't concentrate. This was going no where.

"Hey, I'm gonna head out. See you guys." No eyes turned towards me, no voice said goodbye. I sighed for the millionth time that day, got in my truck, and drove home. By the time I got there, dad had gone to work, and mom was just leaving. She gave a short farewell and drove off. I set the materials down on the table, put some music on, and began working. By the end of the day, the project was half done, and there was still three more days before it was due.

"And all that without help. Or lack-there-of.." I put every thing away, got some ice cream, and sat down to read for a while. Just as I was getting to the part where the monster attacked, the door bell rang. I nearly fell off the couch, and dropped the book in the process. The impatient person standing outside the door rang the bell again. I glowered at the as I stalked toward it. Sarah ran inside as soon as I opened said barrier.

"Finally! What took you so long?" I rolled my eyes.

"It was only a long time to you. And what happened to just using a key?"

"I was too preoccupied with some thing else."

"Forgot it again, didn't you?"

"So?"

"If you'd get up when you have time to get ready, you wouldn't be forgetting stuff all the time."

"Whatever." She left the room. I rolled my eyes again, grabbed my book and what was left of my ice cream, and went to my room. I read a couple more chapters, and then went to sleep, thinking about different kinds of monsters.

The sobbing had started again. Only this time, it wasn't from me. It was some one standing beside me. And for some reason, I couldn't open my eyes to look. I couldn't move at all, and I just wanted to be able to hug the sobbing person. The voice sounded so young and so familiar, but I just couldn't place it. All I could do was lay there and feel my heart ache for the child. The voice sounded so scarred and pitiful. This seemed to go one for hours, before another voice joined the child's.

"Come on sweetie. It's time to go home." The child sniffed.

"But I wanna stay with daddy."

"You can come visit him tomorrow, okay?" The child's shaky voice responded too quietly for me to hear. The small voice gave a sad goodbye, as did the older voice, and the room was silent except the occasional beep of some machine. The silence carried on through out the night, until I drifted off into an uncomfortable sleep that I kept waking up from, only to find that I still couldn't move. After a long period of time, I finally fell into a deep sleep.

When I woke up, I was back in my own bed, and I could move. I heard the familiar blaring alarm clock from the next room, and the air smelled of freshly made pancakes. I sat up, rubbed my eyes, and yawned, trying to make sense of the strange dream, but I couldn't quiet figure it out, so I simply shrugged it off as I walked to Sarah's room. The day continued on as it normally did, with Sarah getting a late start, rushing out the door, and barely touching her food. So I can't help but wonder why the dreams...

The week had passed, the project had been turned in, and the weekend had begun. I was sitting on the couch, flipping through the pages of a book looking for where I had left off, and every one else was asleep. Well, almost every one else. Sarah had gotten up a few minutes ago, freaked when she looked at the clock, remembered it was the weekend, and went back to her room. I assumed she was still awake, judging by the noises coming the floor boards above me. I took a sip of water and almost chocked on it as the phone rang. When I answered it, there was a strange noise, and then the dial tone. Putting the phone back, I resumed searching for my place in the book when the phone rang once again. I sighed and decided to ignore it, thinking it was probably the same person, pulling some kind of prank. But the phone didn't stop ringing as it normally would. By the time Sarah came down to answer it, I was about to throw it out the window.

"Hello?"

I sighed and settled back into a comfortable position, having finally found the place I had left off at. Sarah tried again, but didn't get a response. She sighed, hung up the phone, walked over to the couch and sat down.

"So.. What's for breakfast?" I shrugged.

"Is dad up yet?" I shook my head.

"What about mom?" I shook my head again.

"Do you plan on reading all day?" I looked at her long enough to grin. She sighed.

"You are so boring. Why don't you ever go out and party like normal kids?"

"Because I find partying pointless and boring, and frankly rather annoying."

"You're so weird." She got up and walked to the kitchen, made herself some food, and sat back down. The rest of the morning was spent in relative silence as Sarah ate. My peace was interrupted however, as the phone once again rang. Sarah ran to answer it. I vacated the area and climbed the stairs to my room, giving a short morning greeting to dad as I passed. When mom got up, we went out to spend time together as a family, then we all went our separate ways. I went to the library to return some books, and also to get new ones. As I walked, I noticed a commotion across the street. Being the curious one of the family, I stopped to watch the two people standing across the street argue. I caught a couple words, but no full sentences. I shrugged and kept walking after a few minutes, losing curiosity as to what they were arguing about. It seemed pointless any way. It wasn't until I sat down at the park that the few words I did hear sunk in and I realized they were arguing about the dreams. The same dreams that woke me in the middle of the night. Those haunting dreams that still hadn't left my mind. Only there weren't just dreams. They were real. I stared at nothing in particular, just letting the new information sink into my brain. I smirked slightly when I realized I was relieved to know I wasn't going crazy. Then I realized what I was experiencing wasn't any better. Some how, their sorrow was leaking into my dreams. And I felt... exposed. If I felt their pain, could they feel mine? How was this happening? Why was this happening? I didn't know. All I knew was if I told any one about this, they'd probably never talk to me again, at best. At worst, they'd lock me up in a asylum. I didn't want either to happen. I wandered home in a daze, not really paying attention to much. When I opened the front door, I was startled to see Kai, Kaylee, Ashley, and Jackson, along with as many decorations as you could fit into one room. I blinked, looking at them in confusion. Jackson laughed.

"That's so like you Hanna. You forget your own birthday, and show up late to your on party no less." I grinned sheepishly, completely forgetting the dreams.

"You know how I get at the library. It's my sanctuary." Every one laughed. They then sang happy birthday, and watched me start a cake fight with Jackson. The night went on, and when every one went home at about two thirty, I went to my room, laid down, and fell asleep.

This time, all I could hear was running water. I vaguely wondered why, but then I realized it was from a faucet. I realized my arm was under the running water, and the water running off my arm was dyed red. I watched it wash down the drain, until it wasn't red any more. I shut off the water and wrapped my arm in a towel laying near by. I sighed and sat down, hoping no one would notice. But then some one banged on the door. I jumped, falling off the edge of the tub. I could hear indistinct yelling, some thing about the door, but I soon blacked out. The last thing I remember was one more loud bang on the door. When I woke up, all I saw was a bright white light above. I soon realized I was laying on a bed, but I wasn't sure where exactly. I tried to sit up, but some thing held me back. I then tried to reach up and noticed the bandages on my arm. I let my arm fall back to my side and stared at the ceiling as some one walked into the room.

"Oh, you're awake. How're you feeling dear?" I didn't bother answering. The person sighed and walked closer to the bed. "It might help to talk about it, you know. Suicide is never the answer." I felt like screaming. I hated it when people acted like they knew what I was going through. They didn't know. They'd never know. Finally, the person sighed, giving up and walking out of the room. I laid staring up at the ceiling for a while longer, and finally drifted back to sleep.

When I woke up this time, I was actually crying. I cried for the person in my dream, and the pain they felt. The pain I felt. It was so much for one person. I wondered how they managed to get through the day, but when the smoke alarm went off, I forgot what I was crying about. I got up and headed down to the kitchen, wondering if Dad had forgotten about the food as he did on occasion. This time Dad wasn't the one making breakfast though. Mom was attempting to cook, but really all she was doing was burning food. I coughed through the smoke and ran to open a window.

"Oh, good morning." I inhaled a deep breath of clean air before responding.

"Morning Mom. What are you doing?"

"Trying to make breakfast."

"Didn't we agree that Dad would cook, and you would do whatever else?" Mom sighed.

"Yes, I know. But your father didn't have to get up, and you girls were still asleep, so I thought I'd try cooking for once." I shook my head, remembering the last time she had tried to cook. She nearly burnt the house down.

"Want some help?" She smiled in relief and nodded. I took the spatula from her, and flipped the some what burned pancake. We managed to finish breakfast with out too much mishap, and were just setting it out when Dad walked into the kitchen, yawning. He stopped and stared in shock. Mom smiled at him and kisses his cheek.

"Good morning Dan." I smirked as Dad just stood there, apparently too shocked to respond to Mom. When he finally did snap out of it, Mom and I were both laughing so hard we could barely breath. We only laughed harder when Sarah came running down the stairs, yelling she was late. She stopped in mid sentence when she saw us.

"Woah. Mom actually cooked? No, wait, that's not what I should be asking about. Has any one seen my hair brush?" I rolled my eyes.

"Did you check in your room?"

"Why would it be in my room?"

"Because, that's where it always is?"

"Oh. Yeah. Hey, have you seen my keys?"

"Hanging up."

"Right. Thanks." Sarah ran off to finish getting ready.

"Don't you have any where to be today?" I shook my head.

"No Mom. I don't have school today, remember?"

"Oh... Right." Mom set out the food, and then sat down. Dad sat beside her. I grabbed my food and headed back to my room, planning on giving the couple a little room. What I didn't plan on was my phone ringing and Ashley ranting about how I needed to come over right that second.

"I can't right this second. I just got my food."

"Never mind! I'll get you food when you get here. Just get dressed and come over!" I sighed. There was no arguing with Ashley when her mind is made up.

"Alright. I'll be there in a couple minutes."

"Hurry up!" I hung up, threw some jeans and a decent t-shirt on, and told my parents I was going to visit Ashley. They bid me farewell, and I was off. As soon as I got to Ashley's house, I got tackled. I could barely understand what she was saying because she was talking so fast.

"Slow down Ashley! Breathe." She grinned and took a deep breath.

"So, you know that girl I was telling you about?" I nodded. "Well, I asked her to go to the dance with me this weekend, and she said yes! Can you believe it? She's going with me to the dance!"

"Congrats." She grinned once again.

"So, I just have to get Jackson to go with you, and it'll all be set!" I blushed slightly.

"Who said I wanted to go with Jackson?"

"That face."

"Well who said he wanted to go with me?" She sighed in exasperation.

"Do you not see how he acts around you? He's just too busy trying to cover it up to ask you to the dance!"

"I just can't win with you, can I?" She shook her head. I sighed. "Fine. But don't be surprised if you're wrong." She smiled.

"I'm not." I shook my head and walked over to her fridge.

"What do you have to eat?"

"Food. What else?"

"I meant specifics." She smirked.

"I know." I rolled my eyes, opened a drawer, grabbed an apple, and shut the drawer along with the door to the refrigerator.

"So, is there a reason you couldn't just tell me all this over the phone?"

"Yep."

"Such as...?"

"I needed your opinion on a dress."

"Why do you need my opinion of your dress?"

"Not my dress. Your dress."

"The dance isn't going on until Friday. It's Monday. Why do I need to pick out a dress so early?"

"You just do, okay?" I rolled my eyes, sat down next to her, and bit into the apple in my hand. She opened a book and pointed out a few dresses, then let me look through the rest, hoping I'd point out one I really liked. I pointed out a couple I wouldn't mind wearing, but none I really wanted. Ashley sighed after two hours of this.

"You are so difficult." I simply shrugged.

"I'm picky, what can I say?" Ashley rolled her eyes, grabbed another book, and handed it to me.

"Keep looking. I'm gonna go get something to drink." I nodded and flipped through the book until I spotted a simple black strapless dress with two small silver strips running along the bottom hem. Ashley leaned over my shoulder, curiously peeking at the page I had stopped at. "Nice dress. Are you gonna get it?" I nodded, and touched the 'buy now' space on the page. A small box with the words 'your order will arrive shortly' popped up. And then we waited. We talked about the upcoming dance, the dress she bought, and the girl she was going to the dance with. The conversation ended with a short squeal as Ashley ran to the door to get our dresses. The practically threw my dress at me and grabbed hers, quickly changing into it. I laughed at her anxiousness, and looked over my dress happily. It had been a while since I'd found one I really liked. Ashley squealed spun around in her dress.

"Well? What do you think? It's so pretty, don't you think? I love it!" I shook my head and smiled at her.

"Yeah, it's nice. I like the color. Blood red suits you." Ashley grinned.

"Hey, do you wanna stay the night? That way, we can plot ways to get Jackson to go with you!" I just shrugged.

"Why not? I'll call and ask." Ashley grinned and waited while I called my parents. They okayed the sleep over and bid me farewell. I thanked them and hung up.

"Try on your dress! I wanna see how you look in it!" I complied with her demand. She squealed once again when I stepped back into the living room. "Oh my gosh! You look gorgeous!" I fidgeted in the dress.

"It's a little short for my tastes... And I don't have the right figure for this dress..."

"But it looks so good on you!" I sighed.

"Alright... I still say I should just wear pants..."

"But you can't wear pants to a dance! Not one like this! It's a holiday dance, for crying out loud!" I simply shrugged and went to change back into my standard clothes. Ashley refused to let me. "You just need a second opinion.." I didn't like that tone in her voice.

"Who did you call?" She grinned.

"No one."

"Then why do you look like you just beat the highest level of world combat?" She grinned once again.

"You'll see." I wanted to run. Tried to even, but she kept blocking my path. "Might as well get used to it now." I had an overwhelming sense of dread, and once again tried to run as Ashley went to answer the door, but she had a hold of my wrist and drug me to the door with her.

"Hey Ash. What'd you- Woah..." I blushed as Jackson stopped mid-sentence.

"I know I look weird okay?" Jackson's only response was wandering eyes. I blushed a deeper red. "I'll go change..." I tried to walk away, but Ashley still had an iron grip on my wrist.

"Well now, don't you have some thing to say to Hanna?" Jackson was still staring at me, and apparently didn't hear what Ashley said. She glared and playfully smacked the back of his head. "Ahem." Jackson grinned sheepishly.

"Hi Hanna." I stared at the floor.

"Hi..."

"You look amazing." I thought my face couldn't get any redder, but it did.

"Thanks..." I kept staring at the floor as Ashley glared at Jackson and cleared her throat again.

"Ask her." I heard her hiss.

"Oh, yeah, right. Would you wanna go to the dance with me?" I nodded, still not looking up at him. He smiled. "Great. Is that the dress you're gonna wear?" I nodded.

"Well, this is awkward. I'm gonna go get some ice cream." The mood of the room lightened slightly as Ashley walked to her kitchen.

"So..." I shrugged. Awkward silence followed, until Ashley ran back into the room.

"Some one ate the last of my ice cream! I'm gonna die." Jackson and I laughed a little.

"Can't you just buy more?"

"No! It was a limited edition ice cream! I'll never get any more!" Ashley sniffed and glared at the ceiling. I shook my head.

"Lets try any way." I went to change. Ashley stopped me.

"Where are you going?"

"To change. Where else would I be going?"

"But, but, but, why?"

"Because I don't make a habit of going to the store in dresses."

"All the more reason to go in one now! You can show off your amazingly beautiful figure. Not to mention the dress." I sighed, knowing I wouldn't win the argument, even if I tried.

"Fine. Come on." Ashley smiled, triumphant.

"Coming Jackson?"

"Yeah, sure." The three of us stepped out of the house, entered Ashley's car, and started off towards said store. We didn't find Ashley's limited edition ice cream, but we did find one of her other favorite flavors, as well as my favorite flavor. Jackson didn't really have a favorite, so we didn't get any special kind for him. As Ashley drove back to her house, she chattered on and on about the dance, the girl she was going with, our dresses and what Jackson would wear. It was interesting to say the least. Jackson and I mostly just let Ashley ramble on. When we finally reached our destination, Jackson was complaining that his ears were going to bleed if she kept talking. I listened to the two argue as we carried the ice cream into Ashley's house. After a while, Jackson went homing, saying some thing about work he had to finish, or his parents would kill him. Ashley and I grinned at that as we bid him farewell. I yawned shortly after.

"Can I change out of this dress now?" Ashley nodded. I was slightly stunned she hadn't actually spoken until I noticed she was also yawning. "Tired?"

"No." I laughed. She was never one to admit she was tired until she passed out. She glared and playfully hit my arm. I grinned.

"So, what now?" I pulled on a hooded sweatshirt over my pajamas.

"Wanna watch a movie?" I shrugged and sat down on her couch.

"What movies do you have?" She listed off the different titles until I stopped her at on in particular. "That one. Absolutely."

"Didn't take you long to decide on that one, did it?" I grinned and watched her pull up the Frankenstein movie. She pressed play, sat down, and didn't say anything else. Of course, I didn't either. But that wasn't because I had fallen asleep. When I finally did fall asleep, however, the only thing I dreamed about were mad scientists.

A couple days passed before I noticed there were less students in class than the previous week. Mainly one boy. And that boy was Jackson. I didn't know where he was, but I suspected something was wrong. Every one was whispering about some horrific event that had happened Tuesday. I desperately hoped it hadn't involved Jackson, but some where in my mind, a little part thought it had involved Jackson and I'd never see him again. After school that day, I practically tackled Ashley.

"Tell me you know some thing, please." She raised a questioning eyebrow.

"About what?"

"Jackson! He's been absent for three days now! And he usually only misses one or two, no matter how sick he is!" Ashley smirked.

"So you do like him." I blushed.

"That isn't relevant! Do you know any thing or not?" Ashley shook her head.

"He's probably just got a bad cold or something." I wasn't convinced.

"Go visit him if you're so worried. But you're gonna feel really stupid if he's just sick." I stuck my tongue out at her. She shrugged.

"Will you come with me?"

"What? Why?"

"Please?"

"Why do I have to come with you? He's your boyfriend." I ignored her comment.

"Please?" She sighed.

"Fine..." I smiled.

"Let's go." I began walking towards her car.

"Let me get my stuff first, sheesh." I rolled my eyes and waited impatiently by the door. She grabbed her bag, then walked out the door. I followed her. "You're lucky I love you."

"I know." The drive to Jackson's house was pretty much silent. Neither of us had much to say, so after a few minutes, Ashley turned the radio on. I flipped through the stations, earning a small glare from her. I shrugged and kept looking for the station I wanted. By the time I found it, Ashley was just pulling into the drive way beside Jackson's house. I practically jumped out of the car the second it stopped moving. I was just about to knock when Jackson opened the door, startling me.

"Hi Hanna." I smiled shyly and waved.

"Hi..."

"What's up?" I shrugged. At that point Ashley walked up behind me.

"She was worried because you haven't been to school for a couple days." I glared at her as Jackson laughed.

"That's Hanna for you. But as you can see, I'm fine. Well, pretty much any way." It was then that I noticed the bruises on his face and the cast on his arm and started to freak out a little.

"What happened?"

"I was cleaning the gutters out and fell."

"Off the roof?!" My voice had gone so high, I was surprised either of them could understand me.

"No. Just off the ladder."

"You say that like the few inches difference in height makes it all okay!" Jackson laughed.

"Well, no, it doesn't, but it sounds a little better." I glared at him as he grinned.

"I dislike you..." I turned to walk away, but he caught my hand and stopped me.

"I'm okay Hanna, really." I turned back to look at him.

"What do you mean you're 'okay?' Your arm is broken!"

"It's not as bad as it looks." I had lost the will to argue at that point, so I let it go and sighed. Ashley grinned in triumph.

"Told you." I turned to glare at her.

"Not helpful." She just kept grinning. I sighed again.

"So, any one wanna come inside instead of standing out here in the rain?" Ashley and I complied and stepped inside. We sat down in the kitchen, taking off our now very wet coats. Jackson offered us refreshments, and we talked about what had happened between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. I felt a little better knowing what had happened and that Jackson wasn't dead or something. As time wore on, we kept talking, slowly loosing track of what we had started the conversation with, as well as the time. When Ashley looked at the clock, she nearly fainted.

"Holy shit! I have to go!" Jackson and I glanced at her questioningly. "Bye!" Was her only explanation as she ran out the door.

"Hey! How am I supposed to get home?!" I barely managed to get the words out before the door shut behind her, but she was in too much of a hurry to answer. I sighed. "I guess I'll just have figure something else out..."

"Joe can take you home."

"He's not here."

"No, but he will be in a little over two hours." I bite my lip and looked at the clock. It was already past six. I shrugged.

"Why not?" Jackson grinned, and the conversation continued until my stomach growled. "I just realized I haven't eaten since breakfast..." Jackson laughed.

"Want some pizza?"

"What kind?"

"Mushroom." I shrugged again.

"Sure."

"Want it warmed up?" I shook my head. He grabbed a couple plates and set a piece of said food down in front of me. I nearly swallowed it whole. Jackson laughed. "Help yourself to another slice." I thanked him and did so. After we ate, we sat down on the couch and I watched in amusement as Jackson attempted to use a game controller with one hand. It was quiet interesting. When he finally got the game pulled up, I watched for a few minutes before falling asleep.

All I heard was the soft rumble of a running engine. I sat listening to the soft noise, staring out the window at the darkened land scape, and vaguely hoping it wouldn't stop, because I knew when it stopped, I would have to face the truth. That she was gone forever. That I would never be able to see her smile again. That I would never get to hold my baby sister. That both my mother and my unborn sibling had died just the day before. And no one else cared. No one else would show up to the funeral. The ones who did show up would just be there for public appearances. That they would all be laughing inside. Because my mother was just a no good prostitute to them. But to me, she was every thing. She tried her best to support me, and when she found out she was pregnant again, she quit her job and moved as far away as possible, to keep the newest addition to our family safer. But they had found us. An unsatisfied previous customer had burst into our home one day and started yelling at mother. I tried to protect her, but the man just kicked me against the counter. I hit my head pretty hard and passed out. By the time I woke up, the man was gone. I crawled over to mother's lifeless body and tried to wake her up, but no matter how hard I tried, she just wouldn't wake up. I screamed and cried, and kept trying to shake her awake, but to no avail. I just wanted her to smile at me and tell me it would all be okay like she always did. But I'd never hear that ever again. Now, ever time I close my eyes, I see her body, eyes still wide open, frantic look on her face, as if she was still trying to fight. I squeezed my eyes shut to stem the flow of tears that threatened to spill down my face. I would never again show that kind of emotion to any one. Not the social worker, not my so called 'new parents.' No one. Never again.

I woke to Jackson softly calling my name. His voice sounded slightly concerned, and I didn't understand why at first. Then I realized, I was crying. I opened my eyes and looked up at him. His face was twisted in a look of extreme worry.

"Hey." I wiped my eyes and attempted to brush off his concern.

"Hey. What time is it?"

"A little after nine." I sat up quickly, only to fall back down.

"Shit. My parents are going to kill me."

"Nah, Joe called them when he got home. They said you could stay if you wanted to. " I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Kay..." The room was silent for a few minutes.

"So, why were you crying?" I stared at the floor.

"No reason..."

"You're a horrible liar." I let a small smile form on my lips.

"I know." Jackson refused to let the subject go.

"Are you going to tell me the real reason, or do I have to tickle you?" I scooted a little ways away from him.

"It's nothing. Just a dream." Jackson scooted closer to me and raised his hands, making tickling motions.

"Tell me." I moved farther back.

"It was nothing, really." He didn't look convinced and once again scooted closer to me. "Alright, alright! Just promise me you won't think I'm crazy..." He grinned in triumph and sat back to listen. I sighed and told him about all the dreams, and the argument I had over heard. He sat in silence and listened, his face draining of color when I told him about the suicidal one. When I finished off with my most recent dream, I stopped and looked at his face for a few seconds.

"Why are you so pale...?" He shook his head and turned away from me.

"Nothing."

"You're an even worse liar than I am." He halfheartedly glared at me. I started to grin, but then I it dawned on me.

"Oh my god. Jackson, you're not...?" He refused to answer, and still wouldn't look at me. I glared at him. "Jackson, look at me." When he didn't move, I forced him to look at me. "Why...?" He didn't answer. I sat back and glared at the floor, angry tears threatening to spill from my eyes. "Whatever." I got up from the couch, grabbed my jacket, and stormed out of the house. I hurriedly walked, wiping away the few fallen tears from my cheeks. When I finally got home, it was almost ten thirty. Every one else was asleep, so I managed to get to my room with out any concerned looks or questions. I practically threw my jacket at the wall. I was so frustrated, but I wasn't completely sure why. Part of me wanted to scream and shout at Jackson for doing some thing so stupid, but I knew that wouldn't help. Another part of me was screaming at myself for not noticing before. For not doing any thing to help. For bringing it up in the first place. I pulled my pillow up to my face and screamed into it. When I had run out air, I fell back onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling, trying to catch my breath. It was then that I let the tears fall from my eyes. I curled up on my side and hugged my pillow. After a while I let the exhaustion take over and slept a very restless sleep.

The next day of school was boring and uninteresting. My mind kept wandering to the previous night. Of all the events of this week, I had to keep thinking about the one I wanted to forget the most. I just hoped Jackson didn't totally and completely hate me now. I hoped I could still talk to him, like I normal. That I could fix this and act like it never happened. Erase the memory from my mind, but I couldn't. I sighed for the millionth time that day. Ashley poked my side, curious as to why I seem so out of it. I just shook my head. I didn't want to tell the whole world about Jackson. I loved Ashley like a second sister, but that girl could not keep a secret. She shrugged and went back to what had previously occupied her attention, and in this case, that was writing notes to Anna, her new girlfriend. Occasionally they'd snicker at some thing the other wrote, but the teacher either didn't notice, which I find highly unlikely, or he didn't care. I rolled my eyes and scribbled on a blank piece of paper, trying to get my mind off the events of last night, but I couldn't seem to distract myself for more than two seconds. I glared at the paper, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the trash can as I walked out the door. I watched from the safety of a secluded corner as people rushed by, some walking to cars, and others just walking off campus. I waited for the hallways to clear out before walking to my locker.

"Hey." I jumped at the sudden presence of another person in the empty hall way. I looked up and saw Jackson standing beside me.

"Oh. Hi." A few minutes of awkward silence followed as I shifted the various items in my locker to make them fit properly.

"So... Are you going to the dance tonight?" I shrugged.

"Ashley wants me to go, but considering no one asked me, I'll probably just stay home and read a book or something." Jackson nodded. I closed my locker and turned to him. "Are you?"

"What?"

"Are you going to the dance tonight?" He nodded. I felt a little disappointed. "Oh..." The awkward silence returned as I stood in front of my locker, fiddling with my jacket sleeve. "Well, I have to go help Mom with stuff... " Jackson nodded and waved. I walked out the door and sighed once again. I guess Ashley was wrong after all...


	2. Chapter 2

The next day of school was boring and uninteresting. My mind kept wandering to the previous night. Of all the events of this week, I had to keep thinking about the one I wanted to forget the most. I just hoped Jackson didn't totally and completely hate me now. I hoped I could still talk to him, like I normal. That I could fix this and act like it never happened. Erase the memory from my mind, but I couldn't. I sighed for the millionth time that day. Ashley poked my side, curious as to why I seem so out of it. I just shook my head. I didn't want to tell the whole world about Jackson. I loved Ashley like a second sister, but that girl could not keep a secret. She shrugged and went back to what had previously occupied her attention, and in this case, that was writing notes to Anna, her new girlfriend. Occasionally they'd snicker at some thing the other wrote, but the teacher either didn't notice, which I find highly unlikely, or he didn't care. I rolled my eyes and scribbled on a blank piece of paper, trying to get my mind off the events of last night, but I couldn't seem to distract myself for more than two seconds. I glared at the paper, crumpled it up, and tossed it into the trash can as I walked out the door. I watched from the safety of a secluded corner as people rushed by, some walking to cars, and others just walking off campus. I waited for the hallways to clear out before walking to my locker.  
"Hey." I jumped at the sudden presence of another person in the empty hall way. I looked up and saw Jackson standing beside me.  
"Oh. Hi." A few minutes of awkward silence followed as I shifted the various items in my locker to make them fit properly.  
"So... Are you going to the dance tonight?" I shrugged.  
"Ashley wants me to go, but considering no one asked me, I'll probably just stay home and read a book or something." Jackson nodded. I closed my locker and turned to him. "Are you?"  
"What?"  
"Are you going to the dance tonight?" He nodded. I felt a little disappointed. "Oh..." The awkward silence returned as I stood in front of my locker, fiddling with my jacket sleeve. "Well, I have to go help Mom with stuff... " Jackson nodded and waved. I walked out the door and sighed once again. I guess Ashley was wrong after all... I contemplated the day as I walked the short distance from the school to home. I vaguely wondered how upset Ashley would be when I told her I wasn't going to the dance. When I finally got home, Ashley was waiting for me. She grinned when she saw me walk in the door.  
"Alright, time to get ready!" She handed me a box which I assumed contained my dress. I fiddled with the string round it.  
"Yeah, about that..."  
"Don't worry about that. You're coming to the dance with me." I gave her a questioning look. She shrugged. "Anna's parents won't let her go."  
"Ah." She grabbed my arm and pulled me into my room.  
"Sit." I did as she instructed. She set her bag down beside me and rummaged through it. "Curly or straight hair?"  
"Mine or yours?"  
"Your silly." I shrugged.  
"Whichever." She pouted.  
"You're no fun." I had to grin at that.  
"I know." She glared at me.  
"Turn around so I can fix your hair." I once again did as she instructed. When she was done with my hair, I fixed hers, then slipped my dress on as she did the same.  
"Alright! Make up time! And don't even think about going with your usual 'all black, all the time' stuff." I stuck my tongue out at her.  
"I don't have any thing else."  
"Well it's a good thing I brought my make up isn't it?" I sighed, defeated.  
"Fine..." She grinned and handed me dark blue and some gray eye shadow, pale red lipstick, and some blush. I shook my head and applied said make up as she applied her own. By then it was six thirty nine. Ashley looked over my make up and grinned.  
"Perfect. Shall we?"  
"But we've still got twenty minutes before it starts." Ashley shrugged.  
"So we'll walk around the campus for a while." I laughed. She grinned and I slipped on my converse.  
"You're not seriously wearing those, are you?" I shrugged.  
"Why not?"  
"Because they totally ruin your look! You should wear heels."  
"I don't have any." She sighed.  
"And why not?"  
"Because I don't like torturing myself just to look a few inches taller." Ashley rolled her eyes.  
"Fine, whatever. Let's just go. We're taking your truck." I grinned and grabbed my keys. Ashley climbed into the passenger seat as I started the engine.  
"So, who is Jackson going to the dance with?" I shrugged.  
"He didn't say." Ashley sighed.  
"See, this is what you get for waiting so long."  
"What do you mean, 'you?' He's the one who asked some one else."  
"You should've let him see your super hotness sooner."  
"What does it matter if I show him my supposed 'super hotness' sooner if he had his eye on some one else?"  
"It would've helped bring you to the foreground."  
"Foreground of what?" She rolled her eyes as I pulled into a parking spot.  
"I give up on you." I grinned at her and opened my door. She did the same and we climbed out of my truck.  
"So, where to?" She shrugged.  
"Baseball field?" I nodded and walked beside her, listening to her rant about Anna's parents, the latest history test, the upcoming english test, and the dance itself. I walked in silence, only half listening to what she was saying. She only noticed on occasion when she'd ask me a question, or want my opinion on some thing. By the time Ashley had run out of things to say, we were already sitting on one of the benches.  
"So, what's got you so out of it?" I sighed.  
"Lots of stuff..."  
"Most of it concerning a certain slightly goofy seventeen year old male?" I laughed at her description of Jackson.  
"Yes and no."  
"What do you mean?" I sighed and explained about the day before. She sat in shocked silence and just stared at me.  
"I'm not going crazy, I swear." When she didn't answer, I waved my hand in front of her face to make sure she was still conscious. She glared.  
"I'm not asleep." I shrugged.  
"Just checking." She rolled her eyes.  
"How did you first find out your dreams weren't dreams?"  
"An argument people were having on my way to the park."  
"Wow..."  
"That's the understatement of the year..." She shrugged. I sighed once again and stood up.  
"Well, we should probably head to the dance." She nodded and we walked to the gymnasium. To my surprise, I actually did have a pretty good time. Ashley and I danced and laughed at the odd color choices. I was almost sad to leave, but Ashley begged me to leave.  
"Should've worn comfy shoes." She stuck her tongue out at me and I laughed. By the time I put the key in the ignition, she was back to chattering about random subjects, and I was actually paying attention. I laughed when Ashley lunged for her phone. She glared at me and I just grinned. I pulled into the drive way, shut off the engine, and started to walk inside when Ashley climbed out and ran after me.  
"Got any plans this weekend?" Ashley's face was full of irritation.  
"No. Anna's parents are still being stupid."  
"Wanna stay the night?"  
"Sure." I grinned, took off my shoes, and practically ran to get some ice cream. Ashley gratefully took hers and ate it quickly, ranting about rules and such. When she was done, she huffed and almost threw her spoon into her bowl.  
"I hate rules some times..."  
"I noticed."  
"You're lucky your parents are so nice." I nodded, finishing up the last of my ice cream. She sighed and set her bowl in the sink.  
"Wanna play world combat?"  
"Sure... I get to be Alisa this time!" I stuck my tongue out at her.  
"Nu-uh." Ashley pouted as I set up the game. The night passed all too soon and by the time we went to bed, the sun was slowly rising.

I sat up in bed, looking around at the cold room. It felt so weird not to wake up to some one else in the room. It made the room seem so quiet and so empty, when it really wasn't. I sighed, got up, and got ready for work. I went through the motions of the day. I smiled when I needed to smile, laughed when I needed to laugh, and answered questions asked of me, but I still felt like I was sitting back in that vacant room. I felt hollow and numb. Many people gave their condolences, but I could tell from their looks that they didn't really mean it. I felt like screaming. No one seemed to believe what I said. They'd know if they could feel what I was feeling. But they couldn't. No one knew how I felt because they had never lost any one. All they knew was how to look down on people who had lost family members. I wanted to scream at them, to maybe knock a little sense into them, but I knew it wouldn't help. The only way they'd understand is if they lost some one. If that person was ripped out of their life for good. I sighed and continued on with my day, contemplating taking as much time off as possible so I didn't have to be around these happy-go-lucky people.

Ashley woke me up in the late afternoon and said something about ice cream. I rubbed my eyes and attempted to speak through the yawn.  
"What now?" I stifled another yawn.  
"What about ice cream?" Ashley laughed. I gave her a confused look.  
"Where did you get ice cream?" I shrugged.  
"I don't know. I'm not awake yet." She laughed again. I stretched and got up. "What'd you want?"  
"Your dad is making pancakes. Are chocolate chip okay?" I nodded. Ashley grinned and walked out of the room. I follow shortly after, attracted by the smell of fresh pancakes. I stole one fresh out of the pan, only to burn my fingers. Ashley laughed at me and I stuck my tongue out at her after depositing the pancake on a plate. She grinned at me as I waved my hand around, trying to cool off my fingers.  
"Good morning Hanna." I turned on the faucet and sighed in relief as the cool water hit my burned fingers.  
"Hi dad."  
"Did you have fun last night?" I grinned.  
"Surprisingly, yes." I helped Ashley set out plates as mom and Sarah were walking into the kitchen.  
"Morning..." Sarah yawned and rubbed her eyes, grabbing a glass and some orange juice out of the fridge. She and mom sat down and started chatting about the events of last night. I listened silently as I chewed my food, only speaking when some one asked me a question.  
"You're awfully quiet this morning Hanna. Still half asleep?" I shook my head and grinned.  
"Dad made pancakes." Mom laughed and shook her head.  
"You and your pancakes." I grinned once more and took another bite of my food. The conversation went on and on as time did the same.  
"Oh! Ashley! Did you want to go some where today?" Ashley took a drink of juice.  
"Yeah. Where to though?" I shrugged.  
"Why do you think I asked you?" She rolled her eyes.  
"You're not helpful." I grinned. She stuck her tongue out at me and put her dishes in the sink.  
"Any way, we're gonna go get ready and head out."  
"Don't stay out too late Hanna." I waved at dad and walked to my room with Ashley.  
"So, figure out where you wanna go yet?"  
"Yeah. The park." I raised an eyebrow at you.  
"You don't even like the park." She shrugged.  
"Maybe I started." I laughed and pulled my jacket on.  
"Ready?" Ashley nodded and we headed out to my truck. She chattered on as I drove. The day pretty much passed in the same manner. She talked, I drove or walked beside her. We ran into a few people we knew. Over all, it was just a regular, quiet weekend. We stopped at a cafe for lunch and then walked around a couple theaters, looking at what movies were playing. We walked around town, then went home. The house was empty when we walked in. Ashley grinned and grabbed the ice cream. I laughed. We walked to my room and playing world combat. By the dinner time, we were both exhausted and extremely sleep deprived. Every one laughed as we jabbered on, trying to communicate something, but unable to form coherent enough thoughts. When dinner was over we went back to my room, stared to play world combat once more, and fell asleep half way through the opening credits.

All I could see was the coffin slowly being buried in the ground. It was the most depressing sight ever. I felt like part of me was also being buried with her. My little sister was just three. She shouldn't have died. She had so much more time to live than I did. She had so much life in her. And then one day, she just died. Just like that. One minute she was smiling at me and laughing and the next she was laying on the ground, staring up at the sky. The smile was gone, replaced with a look of shock. All I could do was stare in horror, and just like that, she was gone forever. I vaguely wondered if it would have made a difference if I had kept her inside, instead of letting her go out to play, but part of my mind knew it wouldn't have helped. The doctors had said she had been poisoned. They asked me if I knew how. I wouldn't, couldn't answer. All I could see was her small frame, just laying there, suddenly drained of color. I wanted to scream at her, shake her. I wanted her to wake up. But she never would. Never again would I get to see her soft smile, hear her laugh. I barely heard the words on condolence as people passed my father and I by. I sat motionless, still staring at the freshly disturbed ground. I wanted to cry, but my eyes were dry from the previous few days when I couldn't seem to stop crying at all. When the funeral was finally over, I sat in my father's truck and stared at the floor, counting the ridges on the floor mat, any thing to distract myself even for just a few seconds. My eyes slowly closed as the gentle movement of the vehicle lulled me to sleep.

"Hanna! Hanna, wake up! Hanna!" I opened my eyes to see a very concerned looking Ashley leaning over me. "What happened?" I blinked as I tried to clear the fog of sleep from my mind.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You were practically screaming in your sleep." I rubbed my eyes and sat up.  
"I was just dreaming..."  
"Another emotional dream?" I nodded.  
"I don't know why though." Ashley shrugged.  
"What was this one about?"  
"A girl who lost her little sister." Ashley was quiet for a few minutes, mulling over the new dream.  
"Wanna go to the records department later?" I gave her a questioning look.  
"Why?" Ashley rolled her eyes.  
"Aren't you the least bit curious as to who these people are? Maybe if we find out who they are, we can find out why you're having these dreams." I nodded slowly as I glanced at the clock.  
"But the records department doesn't open until ten."  
"I know."  
"It's only seven."  
"I know."  
"What do we do in the mean time?" Ashley shrugged.  
"Wanna go back to sleep?" I shook my head.  
"Not after that dream." Ashley shrugged once again.  
"Well, I'm going back to sleep. Wake me up when it's time to go." I laughed.  
"Alright. Want me to put some food aside for you?" She nodded and yawned. I left her to dream land and went down to the kitchen. There was already some food set out and a note next to one of the plates. I scanned over it as I took a bite of the now cold eggs. I almost chocked when I read the last sentence. My cousin, Nattile, had been killed by some sort of poison. I dropped my fork and sat down heavily on a chair. I couldn't believe she was dead. I couldn't believe my parents hadn't told me. I couldn't believe that dream was about one of my family members. I sat and stared at the note for what seemed like hours, until Ashley shook my shoulder gently.  
"You okay...?" All I could do was hand her the note silently. Her eyes grew as wide as they possibly could and she sat down in the chair next to me. "Holy shit." I laughed drily at her response.  
"That's the understatement of the year." We sat in stunned silence for at least ten minutes. The only noise that filled the room was the slow ticking of a clock. When Sarah gave a small greeting from behind, Ashley and I both jumped in surprise.  
"What's got you two so tense?" Ashley handed her the note. She read it and didn't look nearly sad enough. "Aw, she was such a nice little kid. Poor Tamie." I stared at her in horror, wondering if that's how I used to react at such news.  
"'Poor Tamie?' 'Poor Tamie?!' That's all you have to say?!"  
"Take a chill pill, geez. What's gotten into you?" I glared at her in disgust and stormed out of the room. I heard her ask Ashley the same question right before I slammed my bedroom door. I wanted to scream and some how make Sarah understand, to knock some sense into her. It was all I could do to not punch the wall. I was so frustrated at her reaction. It was so lame. So normal. So unsympathetic. So... Fake. I glared at the floor and kicked a stray shoe. I didn't understand how she could act so detached. Nattile was our cousin. I sat down and sighed just as the door opened.  
"Hey, mind if I come in?" I looked up at Ashley and shook my head. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to me. "She really does mean well, you know. She just... Doesn't understand how it feels."  
"And you do?" Ashley glared.  
"I understand better than she does." I sighed again and looked back down at the floor.  
"I know. It's just... so irritating." Ashley nodded and we once again sat in silence. This time there was no ticking of a clock. There was only silence. Deep, cold silence.  
"So... Wanna go see if we can find any thing else out about the other people in your dreams?" I took a deep breath and nodded. After a quick shower for me, and a quick breakfast for her, we climbed in my truck and drove to the records department only to be greeted by a dark and silent building.  
"Now what?" Ashley shrugged and I sighed.  
"Wanna try the library?" This time it was my turn to shrug.  
"Not like we can get any farther by staying here." Ashley nodded as she sat down. The drive to the library was spent in silence, as neither one of us could think of any thing to say. I was busy brooding over the most recent dream, almost to the point where I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, so when Ashley poked me to point out the vicinity of said building, I almost had to slam on the brakes.  
"Still out of it, are ya?" I grinned sheepishly.  
"Maybe." Ashley laughed and opened the door to step out of the truck.  
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" I shrugged.  
"This was your idea."  
"They're your dreams."  
"True." I sighed. "So, recent funerals, familiar sounding names?" Ashley nodded and walking into the library, flashing a smile at the librarian, who in turn smiled back, a little bit unsure. Ashley then grabbed a book and sat down at a near by table.  
"Okay, what first?"  
"Uhm... How about recent orphans?" She nodded and flipped through the book as I watched over her shoulder.  
"Too many to go through. Can you give me anything to narrow it down?"  
"Uhm... Single child, about... twelve?"  
"Ah, here we go." She handed me the book and I scanned over the article. I shook my head and handed the book back to her. "There's no other single kids in here." I sighed.  
"Alright. Try... widows." Ashley shook her head.  
"None." I grit my teeth in frustration.  
"This is getting us no where..." Ashley sighed and closed the book.  
"It looks like we'll really have to try the records department."  
"They weren't open!" Ashley looked slightly miffed.  
"I know that! I was there!" I glared and took a deep breath.  
"So what do we do now?" Ashley shrugged. I sighed and stared at the book.  
"Are there any other books?" Ashley shook her head.  
"Not involving what we need." I sighed again.  
"Damn it..."  
"Wanna go home?"  
"No. But what else can we do?" Ashley once again shrugged. I sighed and walked out of the library in a frustrated huff. The ride home was quiet, until Ashley phone rang. She jumped at the sudden interruption of the silence. When she finally answered it, she sounded even more shocked.  
"What?" She held up her hand as a signal to wait. I stuck my tongue out at her and listened as she chattered on. As soon as she hung up, I demanded answers.  
"Jackson's at your house. Sarah tried to call you, but some one forgot their phone." I ignored the second comment.  
"Why is Jackson at my house?"  
"Surprise." I glared at her and focused on getting home as soon as possible, without getting pulled over for speeding. As soon as I walked through the door, Sarah ran over and started chattering at me so fast, I couldn't understand her.  
"Slow down for two seconds!" Sarah took a deep breath.  
"Just go to him!"  
"How am I supposed to know where he is?" Sarah rolled her eyes.  
"He's in the kitchen. Can't you see?"  
"I don't have x-ray vision Sarah." To this, she stuck out her tongue and moved to the side. I walked into to the kitchen, almost dreading what he had to say. I took a deep, startled breath as I caught sight of Jackson.  
"What happened?" He looked at me with a black eye.  
"Long story." I glared at him. He glared back.  
"Fine, whatever... What do you want?" He looked at me for a moment before looking down at the floor. I felt slightly guilty for the snippy comment. "What's wrong?" I waited, expecting an answer, but none came. I was beginning to get impatient. "What'd you come here for?" Still, no response came. I glared once more before turning to walk away.  
"What's with the gloomy atmosphere? I thought you two would be making out by now." Sarah poked her head inside the doorway. Jackson and I both jumped slightly at the sudden interruption. I glared at her now visible face.  
"Go away Sarah." I stormed past her towards my room. I vaguely heard Ashley utter a small farewell, and then all I heard was the silence of my room. I wanted to scream. Why did he have to be so stoic? I grabbed a pillow and threw it at my wall, then fell onto my bed.

I sat in a strange room of sorts, staring at a lever. So many people had been through this room. So many had left and never returned. Some left voluntarily. Some had been forced. Some didn't remember, but I did. I would always remember. All the times running around, narrowly avoiding death. I smiled slightly at the memories. And then frowned as I reminded myself that all of those times had ruined so many lives. Rose, Martha, Donna, Jack, Amy, Rory, and so many more. Never to be the same, ever again. And my family. They were all gone. Dead. I pushed back a sob as I thought of the faces of my loved ones, how I missed them. I so badly wanted to undo the time lock, but I knew I couldn't do that. Wouldn't, even if it meant seeing them again. It hurt so badly, I had to go on through time, living with what I'd done. I couldn't change my past, no matter how badly I wanted to.


	3. Chapter 3

This time I woke up wondering if the dream had been just that, a dream. It seemed to unlikely to be real, but the sorrow felt more real than any of the others before. I shook my head and sat up, only to be startled by Sarah suddenly barging into my room. I about fell off my bed.

"Holy shit. You're up before me? Before you're alarm clock?" She rolled her eyes at me in response.

"It's two thirty you dork." I stared at her, hoping she was joking, only to have her stare blankly back at me.

"Shit! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"I tried. Five times!" I opened my mouth to snap back at her, but thought better and simply sighed.

"What'd you come in here for any way?"

"To see if you were up yet."

"Any particular reason?"

"Yeah. Some one's here to see you." I yawned.

"This some one have a name?"

"Yeah, John Smith, but I doubt it's his real name." I rolled my eyes at her.

"You watch to many spy movies."

"What does that have to do with any thing?" I simply shook my head as I stood up.

"Never mind. So, did the guy say what he wanted?"

"No."

"Did you even ask?" She glared at me.

"Yes, I asked. I am your older sister." I once again rolled my eyes.

"You're only ten minutes older." She stuck her tongue out at me and I laughed as I walked out of my room, then stopped dead when I saw him. Sarah began to complain, only to stop short and stare curiously at me.

"Hello." I blinked in response. He stood up and walked towards me, with his hand out stretched. "I'm the Doctor." I shook his hand, still vaguely dazed.

"Holy... Y-You're from the dream!" Before he had a chance to respond, Sarah interrupted.

"Okay, what's going on? What dream? Hanna, what are you talking about?" I unintentionally ignored her.

"How...?"

"Time Lord." I didn't fully understand what he meant, but I knew he wasn't human. Sarah grumbled unhappily.

"Will some one answer me?" I blinked, and turned to her.

"What?" She glared and stormed off. I blinked again, honestly confused as to what she was requesting an answer to. The Doctor sat back down.

"Shall we talk?" I sat down across from him. The conversation stalled for a short time, as I thought of what to say and how to phrase it, and he, apparently, waited for me to say it.

"The dreams... Why are they happening? And why only to me?"

"They aren't only happening to you. Many more people are having dreams. Not all of them are the same. Most don't remember the dreams." I realized he hadn't answered my first question.

"But why?" The Doctor shook his head.

"I can't tell you that." I felt a slight sting of irritation, and sighed. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.

"So what can you tell me?"

"Why were you able to 'see' the dream inside my Tardis?" I once again blinked, and wondered what he was talking about.

"What?"

"You shouldn't have been able to 'see' that. Nothing can get in my Tardis if I don't want it to." I felt extremely irate at being called an it, but was too preoccupied trying to remember what the 'Tardis' was to let the feeling grow roots. "How were you able to get past the defenses?" He suddenly sounded almost like a little kid who had just gotten his favorite toy taken away. I opened my mouth, closed it, and repeated a few times. Finally, I just shrugged.

"I don't know." He stared at me for a while, and then seemed to wage a small war with himself. None of this made sense to me. I desperately wanted to know who this strange person was, but part of me was too scared to chance asking. Minutes ticked by in uncomfortable silence. The Doctor kept staring at nothing in particular, and I kept fidgeting, practically bursting with unanswered questions, but too timid to ask them. Just when I had almost worked up the nerve to ask, the doorbell rang, and I almost fell out of my chair, startled by the sudden interruption of silence. Sarah raced past and flung the door open, soon giving a small noise of disappointment, and pointing in my general direction. A tallish woman walked into the kitchen and smiled at the Doctor.

"Hello sweetie." The Doctor looked up at her in slight surprise, but soon smiled, almost sheepishly.

"Hello River." I stared at the two, wondering who the woman was.

"You ran off so quickly, so I came to see what trouble you were getting yourself into."

"Why do you always assume I'm getting into trouble?" He looked defensive until she gave him a certain look, from which his facade retreated immediately. "Fine." The strange woman then turned to me and gave me a calculating look. I went back to fidgeting nervously.

"Um, hi?" She smiled and held out her hand.

"River Song." I blinked for the hundredth time that day and shook her hand, half expecting to be taking a trip to the emergency room in two seconds if I messed up the slightest detail of the greeting.

"Hanna."

After the formalities were taken care of, and the odd couple had left, I sat and ran over the converse for a few minutes. A single thought kept running through the rational part of my brain, only to be shot down by the irrational part. It was all I could do to keep all the facts straight in my head. From the outlandish appearance of the device in my dream, to the fact that, sitting here, in the kitchen, was the very person whose memories I had invaded, involuntarily or not. From the news that my sweet, little, innocent cousin, had been killed for no apparent reason at all, to the fact that all my sister had to say was 'poor Tamie.' My head was start to hurt from trying to keep it all straight. The idle chatter of the two strange people in front of me didn't help much either. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sleep for years, but I was almost too scared to close my eyes. I didn't want to find out more bad news by way of dream, and I definitely didn't want any more weird, utterly confusing people popping up because of something I had experienced in a dream. All of this was beginning to be way too much. I suddenly missed my simple, only slightly confusing life, in which the only things I had to worry about were showing up at school, turning in the homework and projects on time. I was so consumed by my own thoughts that I almost didn't notice my name being called from some where off in the middle distance. My head snapped up towards the sound as I soon realized it was Tamie. I stared at her complete and utter shock, the look on her face being one of tired curiosity.

"Hanna?" I shook my head to clear my thoughts and stood up.

"Sorry." She was apparently too preoccupied to pursue the subject any farther, because she sat down heavily on the couch and looked like she was about to cry.

"Nattile's dead." I nodded.

"I know." She looked up at me and finally broke down.

"I miss her so much." I couldn't help feeling sorry for the small girl. After all, she herself was only twelve, and all this was too much to put on the shoulders of some one so young and fragile. I awkwardly hugged her and silently chastised myself for not thinking more of the people I had been dreaming of. After a while, I heard the gut wrenching sobs turn to shallow breaths as the emotions took their toll and she couldn't stay awake, even in the awkward and probably uncomfortable position she hadn't moved from. I had half a notion to just let her sleep where she was, because she was clinging to my shirt like her life depended on it, but I didn't have to worry about it because a sudden interruption to the silence that followed her break down jolted the girl out of her some what restful sleep. She looked around, startled, and looked at me for reassurance. I offered a small, hopefully comforting smile, and went to check out the noise, because I couldn't quell the curiosity forming in the back of my mind. This turned out to be my first mistake, because the moment I stepped over the door frame, it all went blank. No noise, no light, no darkness, nothing.

The clock on the wall ticked away slowly as I waited for the verdict. I stared at it, silently praying time would speed up, hating the feeling of waiting for a few select people to decide my life for me. I hated that they left the room to discuss my situation, hated that they thought I was so fragile that I couldn't even listen to the break down of what was wrong with me. I knew what was wrong with me. I had got caught in the fire that killed my family and only kept me alive. A fire that had been started by a simple accident, because I had been stupid enough to not watch what I was doing. It was my fault they were all dead. I had set the fire, I had been at the center of it, been the cause of everything, and yet I was still alive. It would be a relief if they had told me I wouldn't survive, but I wasn't that lucky. They had told me I would survive, and they'd do whatever they could to keep me surviving, when all I wanted to do was let go and some how atone for what I had done. To possibly be able to see my family again and apologize, to demand forgiveness, if I got the chance. But now I never would. I'd live for many years to come and then some. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't muster the strength to speak, let alone scream. My whole body was screaming in pain, but I couldn't voice that scream. All I could do was lie there in agony and pray it would stop soon. The sound of the door opening soon caught my attention and I looked towards the person walking into the room with disdain. She smiled at me and said something I didn't quiet catch. I stared at her blankly, but she didn't repeat herself, instead pressed a button on a machine and I slowly felt the medicine intended to make me sleep enter my system. I tried to fight it, but the more I fought, the more exhausted I felt. I soon felt my consciousness slip away. The last thing I saw was two more people enter the room with some equipment, exchange a few words with each other, and then...

"Hanna! Hanna, wake up! Come on Hanna... Don't leave me! Please!" I groaned and rolled over, reaching for my pillow to cover my head, only to realize there was no pillow. I slowly opened my eyes, only to snap them shut again.

"Shut off the light will you..." I heard an audible sigh of relief and once again tried to open my eyes, this time with a bit more success. "What happened...?" Tamie's worried face looked down at me.

"I don't know. There was a weird noise and you went to check it out, and then you were on the floor." I sat up and winced.

"That explains the headache..." Tamie gave a slight nod. "Some ice would be lovely right about now.." Tamie ran off to grab said item and I slowly stood up, a little unsteady. Standing up turned out to be my second mistake, because it made the headache about a hundred times worse.

"Here." Tamie ran back with a small bag and handed it to me. I gingerly set the ice against the growing bump on my head, and sat down on the couch. The following few minutes were passed in silence, only interrupted by Sarah running in with Mom and a medic. I cringed when the door banged against the wall.

"Thank God you're awake. I thought you were dead!" Sarah like she was about to cry, and Mom just looked relieved.

"What made you think that?"

"You weren't breathing!" I cringed again, as the volume of Sarah's voice rose.

"Could you not yell, please?" She had the common sense to quiet her voice down a little.

"Next time you're going to pull a stunt like that, could you at least warn me?"

"I would glare at you, but it hurts to move right now." Sarah rolled her eyes and sat down next to me as the medic slowly removed the ice I had been holding and started to examine my injury.

"Looks like you have a pretty bad concussion, but it'll clear up in a couple days." He closed his bag and handed me a couple of pills. "Take one of these now, and another tomorrow morning." He turned to Mom. "It shouldn't be a problem, but if she starts to show any signs of memory loss or nausea, bring her in for a check up." Mom nodded and the medic gathered his items and left. I did as I was told, and replaced the ice in the process.

"Hanna, what exactly happened?" Even Mom's soft voice hurt, but not as bad as Sarah's.

"I dunno." She gave me a slight glare. "I really don't know! Ow..." As much as Sarah's yell had hurt, it was nothing compared to listening to my own raised voice. Mom sighed and seemed to resign herself to asking me these things later. And so, soon, the only other person left in the room was Tamie. She sat beside me in silence, waiting for something. I looked over at her some whet curiously. "What's up?" She took a deep breath and hugged me.

"Please don't leave me like Nattile did." It was then that I realized just how badly I had scared her. I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but it came out as more of a sore grimace.

"I'll try not to, but I can't promise any thing." She nodded, understanding more than any one I knew just how quickly and suddenly some one can be gone. I leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes. The silence was very soothing and soon, both Tamie and I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke up to an impatient knocking on the door. I yawned and walked to the door in a sleepy daze.

"Yeah?" No answer came. I once again yawned, wiped the sleep from my eyes, stepped out onto the porch, and looked around. No living creature could be seen for miles. I mumbled sourly, walked back into the house, and stopped dead when the knocking started again. I decided to ignore it, hoping whoever was pulling whatever prank would just give up, but the noise kept going on and on. I tried to drown it out, but it just kept getting louder the more I tried. It was starting to drive me crazy. Finally, I stomped over to the door, threw it open, and found... No one. But the knocking kept going on. I wandered to the back door, hoping to get to the bottom of this strange occurrence, but I had no such luck. The next thing I knew, I was laying in my bed, and it was dark outside. I stared in wonder at the window. It had been early morning when I woke up. A sharp pain was starting to manifest in my left arm, and I tried to fend off my tormentor, but to no avail. The pain kept getting worse, and when I looked down at what used to be my arm, I froze in shock. In its place was an oddly shiny limb, cold and numb. When I tried to move it, it felt so very heavy. I closed my eyes and fought back a scream as the pain started in my left leg this time. I didn't dare lift my head to look, fearing the worst. And then, I started to remember. The crash, the screams, the odd body part flung in random directions, the hospital, the morgue. I squeezed my eyes closed tighter and fought back another scream, this one being of pure terror. I didn't want to remember it all. I wanted to go back into my drug-induced dream world, where I felt safe and comfortable. I wanted the peacefulness back, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't make myself forget ever again.

I woke to Tamie shaking me this time. She looked horrified, as if someone else was dead. I blinked, wondering what it was, when she spoke. I once again blinked, and tried to clear the fog from my brain.

"Pardon?"

"You were.. You were screaming. It sounded like you were dying!" Well, that explained the horrified look.

"Sorry kid. Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep." Tamie shook her head. I sighed, sat up, and stretched. "What time is it any way?"

"About ten." I whirled around, searching for the source of the voice. This turned out to be my third mistake since getting the concussion. I had to lean against the couch for support and pray I didn't pass out as a result.

"Warn me before you just decide to drop by, will you?" Ashley grinned at me.

"Sorry. But it's your fault for not answering your phone."

"I've been kind of preoccupied today."

"I noticed." I sighed, for what seemed like the hundredth time that week.

"What were you so anxious to tell me that you had to pull a surprise visit on an injured person." Ashley walked over and handed me a book.

"I took the liberty of looking for information about your... predicament, and found this." I examined the item, flipped through a couple pages, and stopped dead when the lettering on the note attached to the page I had stopped at registered as words. I read over it twice, rubbed my eyes, and read over it again.

"Where did you find this?"

"In the library, buried under a bunch of old newspaper articles." I stared at the page a moment longer, before turning to the page number mentioned on the note, and scanned over the text. It was all the information I'd ever need to know about the dreams. Except how to make it stop. All the other people with the same problem were either dead, or had gone crazy and were locked up, for fear of injuring themselves or others. The deaths had been a mystery for years. Some were normal, some, not so much. Some cases were simply wrong place, wrong time, others suicide. Other deaths seemed to be the result of some mysterious disease. The last group was the one that worried me. A select few had simply died in their sleep. No injuries, no poisons, no sings of any kind of problems at all. Those cases were the ones that worried me the most. What could they have died from? Could they have had dreams about someone else dying, and they died too? I was starting to panic. I didn't want to be locked away in a psych ward, nor did I want to end up dead. But there was no information as to the cause of the dreams, or how to stop them.

"Did you find any more information in the library?" Ashley shook her head.

"Nope." I let out a disappointed and frustrated breath. I jumped when Tamie coughed. I'd forgotten about her. Looking at her, I realized she was completely lost, and was dying to know what was going on, but I didn't exactly know how to explain it. I looked up at Ashley, who simply shrugged, apparently also at a loss of any way to explain. I took a deep breath and looked back to Tamie. She stared back at me, expectantly. I squirmed under her curious gaze.

"Uhm... Hi?" Tamie gave me a half amused, half irritated look.

"What's going on?"

"Well... It's kind of a long story.." She crossed her arms and kept staring at me. I shifted nervously, and once again looked to Ashley for help. None was given. "Where should I start..?" I didn't get a response, so I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. It took a while, but when I finally got through with the explanation, Tamie stared, this time in disbelief. I shifted to a more comfortable position, and waited for all hell to break lose. Instead, all that came, was silence. Ashley cleared her throat.

"Any way, I'm gonna get going. I have to meet Anna." I waved and watched her leave, silently wishing she would've stayed so I had someone to hide behind when hell finally did break loose. I turned back to Tamie, and watched her process this newest bit of information. The silence continued for what seemed like hours. It finally broke when Sarah walked into the room, chattering on about her new shoes to some one on the other end of the phone line. She bent over the couch, grabbed my head, and gently prodded the bump. I winced as she did so. She mouthed a silent apology once she completed whatever task she had been sent to complete, and left the room. I blushed in embarrassment as my stomach grumbled loud enough for any one and every one within a five foot radius to hear.

"Want something to eat?" Tamie seemed to contemplate the idea for a couple minutes, then nodded and followed me into the kitchen. The rest of the night passed uneventfully, excluding the burnt sausages causing the fire alarm to blare arrogantly.

I stared at the bottle in my hands. Some where in the back of my mind, I wondered if it would matter, if any one would even notice. If I'd be able to see them again. But I knew I wouldn't. Couldn't. I'd dream about them, only to have the dream turn into a nightmare. It was like I relived that night every time I closed my eyes. I tried to block it out, to just get over it, as so many people had told me. But I couldn't. The worst one was the baby. His body mutilated, and bloody, but still breathing. Still able to cry out. To scream. I'd try to save him, but I couldn't get to him fast enough. Every time I got within reach, the baby would be killed, and I'd scream, but it wasn't over. He, they... It came after me next. The knife stabbing into my flesh, cutting again and again, but never killing. I wished it would all end, wished I could just die, and escape the pain, but it always stops before I can. My wounds get bandaged, and I heal enough to stay alive. But then it all starts over. Some times it starts out with my parents' death, some times it's the stranger's death. But it always ends in my pain. I always see the baby crying and wounded. Crying out for help that will never come. Will never get to him in time. I wanted to scream, but my voice was gone, used up from so many screams before. With shaking fingers, I twisted the cap off the bottle and poured the pills into my waiting palm. I stared at the crimson red pills as they rolled to a halt against my raised fingers. It was now or never. If I didn't take them now, I'd loose my nerve, then some one would find them before I could do it. I raised the pills to my mouth, and paused as I heard foot steps. They were getting closer and closer. I squeezed my eyes shut, poured the pills into my mouth and swallowed. I heard the door open, and voices. I felt my body convulse, and louder voices. But they seemed so far away. I was finally free from the pain. From the memories. From the dreams...


End file.
